Einsamkeit
by jswritingblog
Summary: After the departure of Donna Noble, the Tenth Doctor receives a distress signal...from another TARDIS. Horribly confused yet hopeful, he attempts to figure out how this could be so, uncovering unintended side effects of his Time War actions. Reuploaded due to previous formatting issues. Rated M for swearing and eventual references to torture. Cover: @SmappyFigures on Twitter.
1. Distress Signal

Ten was sitting in the TARDIS's library when it happened, reading a book with a nice cup of tea.

_Code 000. Code 000. Requesting assistance._

Ten froze, eyes widening, almost choking on the sip he'd just taken. Code 000. Suddenly, he was twenty-five again, sitting in a desk at the Academy. If the crew of a TARDIS was in trouble and only had the time or ability to press one button, it was best practice to send that one out—the most basic distress signal possible, broadcast to any other TARDIS within 500 years and some other systems.

Of course, hearing _that_ begged more than a few questions. Questions that needed answering. Ten shot up from his chair and bolted to the console room, footsteps banging down a corridor. His first thought was the Master, but…no, even if the Master had somehow returned after…after what had happened, he wouldn't randomly draw the Doctor to him, would he? Or,well. Knowing him, maybe that's precisely what he would do. It was more a matter of where he'd gotten a TARDIS. Ten tried to shake off recent memory and rounded a corner into the console room, scrambling to the console.

He was just in time to watch the various screens stop lighting up. The signal had disappeared.

Swearing, Ten fiddled with various instruments to try and pick up the signal again. Extending the temporal range of his own TARDIS's sensors. No luck. Yes, this was probably the Master trying to _tease_ him. Extending hope to him, then ripping it away again. Well, it wasn't going to work. Ten was going to _find_ that bastard and—and…

Have a good yell at him? Punch him? Swear at him?

Burst into tears and hug him, thanking him for coming back?

Ten took a deep breath. Plenty of time to cross that bridge when he actually came to it. For now, time to focus.

The first questions, of course, were how and from whom the Master had gotten a TARDIS. A few manipulations of the recorded signal—thank Rassilon for that setting, always keep receipts—gave possible clues, as well as more surprises.

"Type 94. A War TARDIS. _Really_. You somehow made off with a damn _War TARDIS_." Ten groaned. More broadly, the signal came from the Swiss Alps slightly more than one-hundred years from his current location—2121. He punched in the coordinates, then, after piloting the TARDIS there, returned to work on the signal—best to work with what he had before heading outside for more. Further study suggested a particular owner—not the Master, but one Karyahlaten of Arrowroot House.

Karyahlaten. Off the top of his head, he didn't recall the name. According to the TARDIS's database, she was a mid-to-high-ranking general in the Last Great Time War, on her third regeneration, declared MIA and presumed dead for good approximately six months before its end.

_Wait_. The Doctor moved away from the console, starting to pace around the room. Assuming the Master was no friend of this Karyahlaten, he shouldn't be able to use her TARDIS. Even if she were dead, as she likely was at this point, the TARDIS wouldn't allow it. This woman had to have let the Master use her TARDIS for whatever reason, possibly even giving it to him freely…

What would be the point of that, though? She was a _general_, and he'd been a deserter before her disappearance. Was she a deserter too? If so, why so late in the game, and where did she go?

Was she…if she left combat, did she survive the Time War? Ten stopped dead.

_Was she still alive?_

The room wobbled. Ten took several deep breaths, leaning against a wall. If she were still alive, was it really the Master who sent the distress signal, or was it her? No, wait. When he'd…when the Warrior had used The Moment to do what he did, he'd destroyed _all_ Time Lords (and Ladies,and _Tots_, as the case may be), not just active combatants. Unless she'd disguised herself, much like the Master had, there was no way she could have survived. Or, well. Technically, there were probably ways, but none that seemed…well, probable. So, had she survived? Had she disguised herself? If Karyahlaten had gifted the TARDIS to the Master to use, it was possible she was dead and the TARDIS had decided to stay with him.

The answer to the first question struck Ten like a lightning bolt. Yes. Most likely, anyway. If Karyahlaten had died, it would have psychically damaged the TARDIS whether the TARDIS had wanted to remain with the Master or not, not to mention the emotional damage that sometimes drove TARDISes into throwing themselves into stars after their pilots died.

So, how did she survive? Again, most likely for her to have taken the same route the Master did, especially if she was in contact with him at some point. And if she'd disguised herself, not only would she likely not remember anything from her past, rendering her unable to pilot a TARDIS, but good luck _finding_ her, even and especially if she did. It had been dumb luck that had brought him to the Master, after all. Ten groaned. Dammit. A Time Lady out somewhere in the universe, and nothing he could really do to find her…

_Unless_. Ten's eyes widened, and the room wobbled again.

If what he suspected was true, and Karyahlaten had given the Master her TARDIS before either of them had disguised themselves (with the Master stashing it somewhere before disguising himself—maybe he didn't grab it after restoring himself the first time because it was somewhere too far-off for him to get to in time and too easy for him to get caught), the Master might know where she was! And Ten would find a way to get it out of him.

Ten could feel his hearts in his throat. Two for the price of one? Two for the price of one. And if the Master teased him _once_, there was no way the Master wasn't going to continue the game, and then the bastard could be caught. All Ten had to do was wait. Wait! He could do that. He could do that for centuries if it meant seeing his own kind again!

Ten could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He shook himself, trying to calm down. The Master wouldn't want to sit and play house with him, he'd proved that much last time, and Karyahlaten was almost a complete unknown. But there was hope. _Hope_.

Now, was there anything more he could get from outside, or was that the end of it? Ten scurried to a closet to pull on some high-altitude gear. He paused for a moment upon seeing the set hung up next to his own.

_Doctor, perhaps this is a little mundane—I mean, I could have just saved for a plane ticket, even before I met you—but I've heard the view from the Canadian Rocky Mountains is amazing, and—_

_Pick a mountain, Martha. Pick a few, if you want to compare! We'll go as soon as we've got everything we need._

Ten directed his eyes away from the purple set of gear. No time for that now. He had some investigating to do. On went his gear, and he sprinted as best he could out of the TARDIS, footsteps crunching in the mountain snow.

He looked around for a moment. The sun was rising, sending beams over the horizon, and he swallowed.

_I like this one best._

_Do you? I'm surprised. I thought the second one was more impressive._

_Your opinion, Doctor._

_I suppose so!_

Ten took a deep breath. The breeze would have chilled him to the bone if the high-altitude clothes he was wearing hadn't been from a planet far colder than Earth got, even at its worst. He took out his sonic screwdriver and started looking for anything suggesting a TARDIS was here.

He didn't know quite what he was expecting, but it wasn't _nothing_. He moved forward, using more sensitive settings. Sure, the TARDIS was a Type 94 and could easily mask its former presence from something like the sonic even at its most sensitive, but why would the Master want to do that if the point was to taunt him? If the point was to taunt, then knowing the Master he would have written something with his own urine in the nearby snow or the like. The image would be funny—good luck keeping your willy trying that one up here—if it wasn't so _frustrating_. That could be it, he supposed—it was frustrating him—but it didn't feel right.

What was that man's game?

After a few more hours attempting to find something—anything!—Ten slunk back inside, despondent.

Time to wait, he supposed.

####

Alice knew better than to try the door. Viera had likely put some deterrent on it to teach her "disobedient darling" a lesson. For now, Alice supposed, she was defeated. Her shot, her one, perfect shot, hadn't worked, and now it would be a long time before Viera would let her near the console again.

No matter. Sooner or later, Viera would misstep again. And when that day came, Alice would be ready.


	2. Trapped

The TARDIS sat suspended in an uninhabited system toward the edge of the Mutter's Spiral, and Ten, frankly, felt as the surrounding area looked: vacant and cold.

Six months. It had been six months since he'd seen and heard that distress signal with his own set of eyes and ears, and nothing had happened since. Or, well. Things had happened, certainly, some of them of note, but nothing to do with that distress signal, and nothing could override that in his mind. It was as if the Master had forgotten about him. There was still hope, of course—the Master was fond of the long game, after all, and it could be centuries before any new developments—but Ten, contrary to what he had believed previously, was not fine with waiting. Not when so much was at stake.

He wondered what the Master was doing right now. Oh, and Karyahlaten, whoever she was. After somewhat more research directly after the fact, he had realized that he'd met her—she was Loomed at around the same time as he was and in his class at the Academy. Not that he remembered her very well. If he concentrated, he got a distinct impression that her first incarnation was a curly-haired ginger who always had the answers to the instructors' questions, but kept to herself much of the time. She was at least on her third now, though, so that wasn't much help.

Her third. Ha. He supposed that many of his classmates didn't have quite the same taste for adventure that he did, therefore holding on to regenerative energy for far longer. It said a lot about him, he supposed, that he was on his…twelfth technical incarnation? The incident with his severed hand counted, he was pretty sure.

He paused, eyes darkening. Enough about that. Time for rest. If he could manage it. Busy day of saving the universe tomorrow, after all.

####

"Please. You know she's crazy, I know you do. It's wrong, it's all wrong, and we need to make sure she can't hurt anyone else."

Uncertainty. Alice didn't give up. She could tell she was close.

"…Look. Just help me send whoever this Doctor is a message. You don't have to do anything else afterward. They'll probably do the rest for you, if they're anything like Viera made them sound."

Alice could feel the walls creaking around her in what she could only guess was a whimper.

"I know, I know. You love her. It's natural, from what I know, though I can't say I understand. You went through the same things she did, whatever they were. You know how she feels. But that's no excuse for what she's done. You know that, don't you?" Alice tried to temper her anger, but she knew it was showing. "She hurt people who did nothing to her in a monstrous way. You know me. You love me, don't you? Same as she thinks she does. She hurt me! She hurt Brandon, too. You can love her, but you can't deny _that_. And if you love Brandon or me, you'll help us."

The air was heavy, thick with tension and an implied glare. Oops. Alice decided to try a different angle, allowing her anger to show more.

"So, that's how it is? Coward. Look. I can't promise I won't try to kill her once I'm out of here, but killing her is something I have half a mind to do no matter where I am. At least if I'm gone, she isn't sharing space with someone who'll knife her at the first fucking opportunity. Does that sound good to you? If you want to keep her safe from me, you'll help me go. No more, no less."

A pause. The air grew cold and electric.

The door swung open.

####

Ten lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

_Doctor? That is your title, right?_

Ten bolted upright. That was a woman's telepathic voice. American Standard dialect, somewhere in her twenties in human terms…and unmistakably Gallifreyan by the basic feel of her thoughts.

_If you can hear me, please respond._

Ten fumbled with his thoughts for a moment. _I can hear you, whoever you are. And yes, that's me. I'm the Doctor._

_I'm Alice. I'm going to go into an escape pod after I finish this message._ The telepathic voice listed off a set of coordinates. _Come get me there. There may be someone pursuing me. She kidnapped me and another man. I'll explain more when we meet._

_Wait—_

The telepathic connection ended.

Ten leapt out of his bed, whipping his way to the console room and punching in the coordinates. Could it be a trap? Yes, but if it wasn't…he would regret not pursuing this forever.

He had enough regrets. He wasn't going to tack on this one.

####

The escape pod was hiding behind a moon a few systems from Earth. Ten hailed it.

"Alice?"

A woman's face appeared on one of the console's screens. She was dark-skinned with dark, haunted eyes. Her hair was swept back into a curly ponytail. "Yes. Doctor?"

"Yes. Now, I'm going to transport the escape pod into a hangar bay on my ship. Don't leave the pod until I tell you to. No offense, of course, but I need to make sure you don't have any surprises on you."

"None taken. I'd do the same thing." Alice nodded, shutting off the hail.

Ten carefully transported the escape pod into the hangar bay, then set the TARDIS's sensors to work on it.

One Gallifreyan, no (other) surprises—at least, as far as Ten could tell. No weapons. No explosives. No Daleks. Just Alice, whatever her story was. Must be a hell of a story. Ten walked down to the hangar bay, hearts in his throat.

"All clear. Get out of there."

The hatch to the escape pod swung open. The woman—the same woman from the transmission, wearing a simple tunic and loose trousers—stumbled out, legs wobbly. She blinked in the greater light of the hangar bay, then turned toward Ten. Her face remained mostly neutral…if you didn't know any better.

"So, you're the Doctor."

Ten took a deep breath. "Yes. Yes, I am."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Ten searched her face and body language, and what he found confirmed his suspicions. Terror. Trauma. Both had a distinctly childish bent to them—the woman wasn't much more than a girl, honestly. The way she looked, Ten suspected she was barely old enough to have graduated from the Academy.

Was she a soldier?

Ten felt sick to his stomach, world threatening to spin. He wanted to comfort her. To give her a hug. He didn't know how much she knew about what he'd done, though, and if she knew how the Last Great Time War ended…well. She might not accept his company. Tears sprang to Ten's eyes. "I…the first thing I have to say is that I'm—"

An explosion rocked the TARDIS, and a message sounded through the hangar bay: _Engines damaged_. Alice hissed. "She's here."

Ten didn't respond, running back to the console room. Alice kept pace with him. When the two arrived in the console room, the TARDIS was being hailed. Ten opened a communication channel. The woman who showed onscreen had blue eyes, but her features were otherwise distinctly Asian. Her straight, dark hair was kept loose, and she appeared to be somewhere in a human's forties. Alice glared at the screen, clenching her fists, but kept quiet for the time being.

"Hello, Warrior! Haven't seen you in ages! Now, I'm fairly certain you know what a War TARDIS is capable of, don't you?" The woman smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. Ten cringed and tried not to look away. _This_ woman had to know what he had done. Almost certainly.

Eventually, he nodded, face burning. "I do."

"Then you know that was a warning shot. Just to turn off movement capabilities"

"I do."

"If you don't deliver my _dearest darling_ to me, who I see next to you, I'll keep your engines shorted out and return here every so often to see if you've changed your mind. Is that understood?" The woman didn't break eye contact.

"…Why do you want this girl?" Ten continued to try to steady himself.

"Because she is my dearest darling and I love her. More than that is none of your concern, Warrior. Now, are you going to hand her over or not?"

Alice jumped in. "No, you think you do. If you really loved me—"

"DON'T SAY THAT!" For an instant, the woman's eyes were wild.

"I'll say whatever I want, bitch!" Alice fired back, uncaring.

"YOU—!"

"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Ten interjected, straightening up. This wasn't just about him. He had a person to protect. The other two fell silent, watching. Alice seemed nervous and enraged. Her probable former captor…it was hard to tell.

Ten looked between the two of them, satisfied for the moment. "Now. You—what should I call you?" He looked at the woman on the screen.

"Viera." The woman smiled again, recovered and seemingly curious.

"Viera. All right, Viera. Why haven't you transported my humble Type 40 into wherever you kept the escape pods? Or even just Alice herself?"

Viera paused. A brief flicker of embarrassment crossed her face.

"I can answer that. Because I told her TARDIS that I'd kill her given the chance, and that it really didn't want me on the same vessel." Alice crossed her arms. "And I wasn't lying. I will do it. It's protecting her."

Viera took a step back, subtly cringing.

Ten paused. "I see. What makes you think your TARDIS will let Alice on board at all, then, Viera?"

Viera hissed. "My dearest darling will come around. She's cranky now, but I'm her mother and she's going to love me one way or another. I'm sure I can persuade my TARDIS of that."

Alice released a pained laugh. "You wish. On both counts. Fuck you!"

Viera opened her mouth, eyes flashing. Ten cut her off. "We're not doing this again! Now. I'm not handing over Alice. That's a given. I don't know what you did, but you're definitely acting like you've done something horrible to this woman, and I won't in good conscience hand her over."

"Conscience! Now that the war's over, you think you can have a conscience again, don't you?" Viera's demeanor brightened. She giggled. Ten felt like those words were a punch to the gut. "No matter. I'll come back tomorrow, then. Every day, if I have to. Time will return my darling to me whether you like it or not. Good day." The communication channel closed. Ten stared at the blank screen, stunned.

Alice seemed…less so. "That fucking bitch! You wouldn't happen to have any guns on this ship, would you?"

Ten looked over, as if in slow-motion. "It doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"Because this is an older model, and any offensive capabilities it could have would be overshadowed by the TARDIS Viera has. And I'm not attacking her anyway."

"She's a monster who hurts people and she's better off dead!" Alice's voice spiked in pitch, and she trembled.

"She and others would say the same about me. Now, I'm going to show you to a place you can be by yourself for a while, if you need it. I'm going to determine the exact damage to the engines. I'll get you back over in a couple of hours to talk about what happened before and what happens next. Does that work for you?

Alice opened her mouth to argue. Upon meeting Ten's eyes, she shut it and nodded, though she still didn't seem happy about it. "For now."

"That's all I need."

####

The engines would take time to fix, but at the very least they _could_ be fixed, which was something. They were also on-line enough to keep life support running, obviously. Just no hopping about space and time like a madman for the time being. Just as Viera—Karyahlaten?—had suggested.

Dammit. Ten was going to get out of this one, that much he knew, but he wasn't quite sure how yet, and he needed a plan. At least for Alice's sake.

Where to begin?

Something had obviously happened between the two Gallifreyans he'd run into today, and he suspected he'd need to know what it was (among other things) before he could continue with a plan. And, well, there was really only one source that might be cooperative available. Approximately three hours after Ten had left Alice in a bedroom, he knocked on the door, hearts pounding.

Here's hoping, he supposed, though he wasn't quite sure for what.


	3. Story (The First Half)

Einsemkeit

When Alice opened the door, Ten tried to smile. "Are you feeling better?"

"Not really. But I'm not going to scream at you, if that's why you're asking." Alice looked up, finding Ten's gaze. Those eyes, Ten noted, looked like they'd seen too much, especially on one so young. This was, however, assuming that he was correct about her approximate age. Of course, he was one to talk, and he didn't want to know what she saw in his.

"If you wanted to scream at me, I wouldn't blame you." Ten sighed. "I've certainly done enough."

"Well, you helped keep her off me. That's enough to make me not care about whatever it is she's angry at you about." Alice chuckled.

"…You don't know." Ten paused. "Alice, what I did…I need to say it. I don't want to, but you deserve to know. Our planet is—"

Alice cringed as if physically struck, hissing. Ten braced himself. "I know—"

"It's not _our_ planet, okay? I know, I know, it's beautiful and advanced and a good place to go, but it's. Not. Mine. We need to establish that _right now_."

The Doctor's mouth fell open. "…What?"

Alice paused, seeming to consider how to approach a delicate subject. Finally, she responded, voice calmer. "…It's okay. You didn't know. Let's start from the beginning. How old do you think I am?"

Ten looked Alice over, wondering where she was going with this. "Most likely…around one-hundred and thirty, if this is your first—"

"Twenty-six." Shame oozed from the phrase.

Ten did a double take."That's…but you're…"

"No. No, I'm not. Or, well. Depends on your definition, I guess. I've got the whole two-hearts and aspirin-allergy thing going for me, but I've never been to Gallifrey. I was born on Earth—actually _born_, not made the way Viera said she was. I lived on Earth until I was twenty-four. I had family. I had friends. I had a life there! And then…and then…" Alice's voice broke.

Ten was stunned into silence as the woman fought back tears. From what he could sense telepathically, she was telling the truth, or at the very least believed her fiction. Probably best to let her finish. "…What, Alice? What happened next?"

"She showed up and made me not human anymore."

"Viera?" Ten kept his volume low.

"Who else? She took me, and she took Brandon, and she probably took others, and it hurt. A lot. Fuck. Her!" The stream of words gradually crescendoed into a howling sob, and Alice covered her face, tears falling into her hands. "I'll kill her, I swear! And she won't come back! She—"

Ten placed his hands on Alice's shoulders. Time to try something. Alice looked up, stunned at the contact. "Ungh?" She removed her hands from her face, eyes glistening.

"Alice. Hush, please. It'll be okay. No matter what happened—"

"Do you believe me?" Alice's voice sounded small. Vulnerable. It trembled. "You say that like you don't believe me."

"Alice, I—"

Apparently, something in his tone didn't sit well with her. "You don't believe me. You think I'm crazy!" Her voice started rising again.

"Alice, _let me finish_." Alice's mouth closed, and her eyes widened in terror. Ten cursed internally. She at the very least believed herself to be a _child_, and he'd put far more edge into that than he would have liked. He softened. "I believe that from what you know, the explanation you just gave me is the best one. I believe that you believe you—"

"But you don't believe me." Alice wasn't screaming anymore, but the numb way she was speaking was almost worse.

"I believe that your possibility is possible, but there may be more to the story than you're aware of. Okay? You're not lying, and you could very well be right, and if you are, then I'll apologize to you at the end of all this for doubting and reading too much into things. Furthermore, the pain and anger you're feeling? Those are real, no matter what the facts are. They're valid and you have every right to be in pain. But you may not have all the facts." Ten fell silent at the end of his speech, waiting for a response.

Alice stared at the ground. For a moment, it looked like she was going to burst into tears again. Finally, however, she looked up. "Leave me."

"Alice—"

"Now." Her voice came out as a growl.

Ten opened his mouth, shut it, and turned, leaving the room. 

####

Dammit. He'd really gone and done it now. The first of his species that might actually be predisposed to enjoying his company since the War, and now she probably hated him. Why hadn't he lied? No, he couldn't think like that. A friendship built on a lie was no friendship. She may have caught him anyway, too. Best to be honest about what he was thinking so that she didn't think he was patronizing as well as doubting her. That was what he told himself, anyway.

Ten lay sprawled in a chair in his favorite living room in the TARDIS about a day later, flipping through his database of various entertainment media. Nothing looked appealing, however, and he eventually shut off the projection, groaning and resting his head in his hands. He wanted to go back in to check on Alice, but that may not be the best idea. She'd sounded adamant.

Footsteps coming from the door made him jump in surprise. He turned. "Alice?"

Alice didn't look Ten in the eye, collecting her thoughts.

Ten tried again, gentler. "Alice."

Alice looked up. "…It doesn't have to matter, does it? What either of us thinks of the facts about me. Because there are some other facts that matter more."

"…Elaborate." Ten hid a sigh of relief. She wasn't going to turn on him.

"First, she hates you. Almost as much as I hate her. I've heard her ranting about you before." Alice's voice strengthened as she spoke.

Ten snorted. "Viera? That one was obvious, though I don't blame her."

"Second, because of the first fact, I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't on this TARDIS with you, she would have blown it to smithereens. So you don't want me to leave this ship without you. And even if we disagree, I'm not having you die because you doubt me. That'd be evil." Alice snorted.

"A reasonable assumption followed by a respectable, if possibly mistaken, statement."

"No, I'm not mistaken. You came to help me when I asked. You're a good person. You just don't know Viera like I do." Alice tried to smile.

Ten looked away for a moment, swallowing. _Rassilon_, he wished that were true. Now wasn't the time for self-pity, though. He forced himself to look at Alice. "Maybe. Maybe not. I have a few questions. If it ever gets to be too much, tell me and we can take a break. But I think these are important. Do you remember how Viera made you Gallifreyan?"

Alice paused, closing her eyes. "It looked like a watch, but it wasn't."

_Ah-ha_. Damn if that didn't sound familiar. "Something like a watch. Anything else you can remember about it?"

Alice nodded. "When she put it on my wrist, before it did anything else, it dug in until the band hit bone. There were a lot of other machines hooked up to me, but I think most of them were to keep me alive during the process."

Huh. Okay, that was different. "To keep you alive? How long did it take?"

"I don't really know. I wasn't exactly keeping track. It hurt like hell. But if I had to guess, about a week, with breaks to make sure I didn't die from overexertion or something."

A week. Hm. If this was a Chameleon Arch, perhaps this was an older model that took longer to work. As well, it was most likely somewhat broken, given that while Alice's biology was now Gallifreyan, she hadn't had any Gallifreyan memories restored. That might explain why Viera was so upset, too. The Doctor knew he'd be upset if one of his children believed themselves to be human and the victim of their unfortunate parent.

Alice spoke up. "You're thinking about something."

Ten made eye contact. "Yes."

"Are you going to talk about it?" Alice's voice was sharp.

"Not until I'm sure what's going on." The Doctor sighed, furrowing his brow.

"I can take you doubting me at this point, if that's what you're concerned about. I got mad at you because it's not _fun_ to be doubted, but we have more important things to deal with right now. I know that now. I stand by my theory, but you're free to believe what you like. What do you think is going on?" Alice didn't let up.

"Once, I used a device that looked like a watch that made me human for a time. Gave me a new personality and new memories, too. It looked like a fob-watch, not a wristwatch, but this very much sounds like something similar." Ten held his breath after he was finished.

"…So you think that I am Gallifreyan, but was made human for a while." Alice tried to conceal the fear in her eyes. Ten gritted his teeth.

"Possibly. We'd need to get information, most likely from Viera, to be sure. But, as you said, that's less important than getting us out of danger. If you don't want to go back to her, I'm not going to send you. That much I can promise." Ten smiled. It felt forced. "No matter who she is to you, she has no right to you. Understood? Even if she did take care of you before you were sent to Earth, which is a possibility I'm considering, her actions are controlling and she needs to get that in her head."

Alice smiled, far more genuine, and she let out a breath that she probably didn't realize she'd been holding. "Thank you. That's what's important."

Ten smiled back. Rassilon, it was good to see that poor woman smile. Was that the first genuinely happy smile he'd seen from her? Probably, and that was a very good start.

Alice spoke up again. "What are we going to do to get out of this? You've got a lot more experience getting out of bad situations if you're really as old as I think you are."

Ten laughed. "You could say that. Now, let's see. Viera's likely going to come back sometime later today, or at the latest tomorrow. I'm going to try to reason with her."

Alice blinked. "…You're serious. She's crazy!"

Ten nodded. "Yes. I knew her back in the Academy."

Alice's mouth fell open slightly. "You did?"

"Well, knew _of_ her, but still. We have some of the same experiences. Maybe I could get her to step off."

"You're forgetting she hates you, Doctor."

"…Touche. Still, I have to try that first before getting into any other options." The Doctor sighed. "Besides, it could still work."

"If you say so." Alice looked incredulous. "If you say so."

Ten heard something that suspiciously sounded like a rumbling stomach coming from Alice's direction. He spoke, surprised. "Wait. Have you eaten?"

Alice shook her head. "Not since Viera. So, uh, yeah. Hungry. Sorry."

"No, don't be! Everyone needs to eat. Come on, let's get you something."

The two of them left the living room in search of a kitchen.

7


	4. Chocolate

It wasn't long after they'd found something for Alice to eat that the TARDIS was hailed. Ten and Alice made their way to the console room, opening a communications channel. Viera's face stared at the pair from the screen. "Ah, dearest darling! Surely—"

"No." Alice's voice was flat.

Viera's eyes flashed. "Insolent—"

Ten raised his hands. "Karyahlaten, please. You are Karyahlaten, right?"

"Don't call me that. It is an old name. Unless you'd prefer Theta Sigma, Warrior." Viera smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Point taken." Ten decided not to remind Viera—if she'd ever known in the first place—that "The Warrior" was also an old title. "In any case, I have a few questions for you, if you'll entertain an old classmate."

"Hmm…that's an interesting request, isn't it?" Viera paused, seeming to think it over. "I'm tempted to say no. Drive your horrid little brain insane with something it can't have. But then, I'm bored too, and thinking up good answers for you would be as good a way as any to pass the time. Tell you what—you get one question per visit. I'll ask my question, you ask yours. I'd ask if that sounds fair, but then…no, I don't need your approval. One question per visit, starting now. And…let's make it interesting for me. I won't ever directly lie in my answers. More than you deserve, of course, but I need a challenge, so you're getting lucky."

Ten opened his mouth to object, then paused. He probably wasn't going to get more out of this woman by arguing, and if he angered her, he might not get anything at all. "Works for me. We have time, thanks to you. I'm even fine with you going first, if you'd like."

Viera giggled. "Ah, chivalry! You still practice it, I see. Very well. Are you going to deliver my dearest darling to me?"

"Well, Alice?" Ten turned toward his younger companion.

"Hmm…No." Alice grinned.

"I didn't ask _her_." Viera fumed.

"But it's her decision, and you need to get it in your head." Ten sighed. "Now…"

What to ask? There were a few things he could think of off the top of his head, all of which he'd intended to fire at Viera during this meeting. The problem, of course, was wording the question he was allowed to ask in such a way that he could get useful information out of her no matter how she obscured the truth, which she was almost guaranteed to do. Maybe…maybe it would be best to start with some simple questions. Questions that Viera couldn't manipulate easily. That way, he could return to those answers when he started asking more complicated questions to see if everything matched up.

Okay, here went nothing. Something nice, simple, and potentially useful.

"Which incarnation are you currently living?"

Viera's eyes widened. She obviously hadn't expected this one. A pause, then a wide smile. "You're asking me something I've already told you."

Ten stopped dead. "Already told me? But—"

"I gave you your answer for today. Goodbye, Warrior." The channel closed.

Ten swore, trying to contact the Type 94 again. Viera didn't respond. "Something she's _already told me_? Nonsense! She's told me nothing!"

Alice grumbled "Jeez. And I thought she was bad when she _liked_ someone."

Ten looked over at Alice, something occurring to him. "Do you know which incarnation she's on?"

Alice shook her head. "She never told me." A pause. "I can tell you what I do know about her, though, if that would help anything."

"It very well might. I'll get a pot of tea started. No sense in things being more unpleasant than they have to be."

####

Ten set a cup of tea in front of Alice, watching her carefully. The girl was twisting a lock of her hair between her fingers. She took the cup in her other hand and drank from it. Her eyes widened. "You know, I didn't used to like tea."

"It can be an acquired taste." Ten took a sip from his own cup. "So. Viera."

"Yeah. I didn't know her full childhood name, but she did call herself Karyah once or twice, so Karyahlaten is plausible-to-likely. Don't know where she got the nickname."

"Fair enough."

"She always liked puzzles and games—that's probably pretty obvious by now. She was trying to teach me something along the lines of chess, but Gallifreyan. I was never good at it."

"She played games with you?" Ten took another sip of tea.

"Yeah. I mean, if I'd wanted to live with her and not, you know, already had a home, it probably wouldn't have been so bad, being there. If I behaved, she tried to be kind. Something's definitely wrong with her, though."

Ten snorted. "Obviously. She's most likely grieving."

Alice paused, continuing to fiddle with her hair. "It's not just that. My grandma on my mom's side died when I was twenty. I've held my mom as she cried. Whatever's wrong with Viera, it isn't just grief, even if you account for the difference between losing a person and losing a planet. Not sure what it is, though." The words that Alice had said seemed to catch up to her, and she swallowed. "I miss my mom."

"I'm sure." Ten looked away, suddenly awkward. There was silence for a few moments. Ten shook himself. "Er. Okay. Likes puzzles and games. Somehow off beyond grief. Anything else that you can think of?"

"Well. The grief is another thing. She goes on and on about Gallifrey. Which. Okay, now that I know it's gone, I kind of get." Alice looked guilty, then quickly tried to move forward. "She also likes chocolate." Alice paused, then snorted. "Oh, you'll get a kick out of this. It isn't just any kind of chocolate she likes. When I sent that distress signal the first time, we were going on a chocolate run to 22nd century Earth. It has to be Earth chocolate—mostly European, preferably Swiss—or she won't eat it. She has a whole room where she keeps it, too."

Ten almost choked on his tea, grinning."Really? I mean, a certain kind of chocolate is useful if there's any accidental aspirin consumption, but that's something else.

"You're telling me! She's a little obsessive about her chocolate."

"And about other things." Ten stopped, then continued. "So, she said she's already told me what incarnation she's on, but that doesn't make sense, given that she's told me nothing about herself. Before I talked to you, all I knew was her name." Another pause for thought. "Which could have some connection to her incarnation, I suppose. She _did_ give me a nickname. Any ideas on what that nickname could mean?"

Alice shook her head. "No. You're talking about the name Viera, right?"

"Exactly."

"Would the universal translator mess with how that's pronounced at all?" Alice tilted her head.

"No. It can pick up on proper names. Why?"

"Because it doesn't sound like Gallifreyan to me, though you can correct me if I'm wrong. She's tried to teach me some, and it's just not the right tone."

Ten considered this information. "…You're right. She's probably pulled that from another language. Which doesn't help much, considering just how many of those there are in the known universe. Although…we could run some variants of the name through the universal translator. See if anything comes up." Ten stood up, walking back toward the console room. Alice followed close behind.

Upon entering the console room, Ten entered _Viera_ as manual input into the universal translator. A few things popped up—Sontaran for "lake", for example—but nothing that seemed indicative of numerical information. _Vieran. Vier—_

Four. It's German for _four_.

"You found something?" Alice leaned over, then started howling in laughter. "Don't they speak German in Switzerland? Some of them, anyway. I knew she was obsessed, but wow."

Ten had to admit, the thought of a grown Time Lady naming herself in one of the languages of a backwater race due to a favorite treat was amusing. And honestly, a little heartsbreaking. She had to have regenerated between her disappearance and now. Ten felt his stomach sink. Had she named previous incarnations the same way? If not…was chocolate one of the only comforts she had these days? Thanks to him, of course…

The room began to blur.

"Doctor? You okay?" Alice put a hand on Ten's shoulder.

Ten shook himself. "It's…I'll be fine. Just thinking. We have to prepare a question for tomorrow. Not to mention I have to do some repairs."

Alice nodded. "Of course."

Ten looked over. Alice was opening up to him far more easily than he'd thought she would, given what he knew about her. It was almost enough to make him suspicious. Was this a trap?

No. Most likely, anyway. From what he could tell, she was just…scared. And lonely. If Viera and maybe one other person—she did mention someone else, didn't she?—were the only people she was allowed to see for two years, he could understand why she would enjoy the company of someone else.

_If it helps you sleep at night._ The little voice didn't quite let up.

_She trusts me. I have to trust her._ Ten attempted to end the internal conversation, pulling himself upright.

It wouldn't do to think ill of the only ally he had.


End file.
